Black Colorpoint Shorthair Cat Names
A Colorpoint Shorthair is, structurally, a pointed cat — body lighter than face, ears, legs, tail — so 'solid black' is not what the breed produces. What you almost certainly have is the seal-point variant — CFA's darkest recognised point colour, with points reading near-black on a warm fawn body. The breed itself was split from Siamese as a separate CFA breed in April 1964 after CFA Secretary Jean Rose insisted to the Empire Cat Club that Colorpoint colours would not be merged into Siamese standards. The original CFA-recognised point colours were red and cream; lynx and tortie variants followed by 1969. There are owners who do call seal-points 'black Colorpoints' colloquially, and on a fully-grown cat in dim light the points are dark enough that the description tracks. The genetic mechanism behind the pattern is the same temperature-sensitive tyrosinase mutation that produces every Siamese point — pigment forms only at the cooler extremities. For naming, you can lean into the dark-points contrast (Onyx, Inkwell, Soot for the extremities; or pair-names for the body-and-points tension like Yin/Yang).
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chance | French for luck | Male | |
| Ashley | ash-tree | Female | English |
| Obsidian | Black volcanic glass | Unisex | Greek |
| Milo | Merciful. | Male | Latinized |
| Kali | after the Indian goddess of death | Female | Sanskrit |
| Arwen | noble maiden | Female | Welsh |
| Sebastian | An august person | Male | Latin |
| Kiki | From Enriqueta - Pet | Female | |
| King | King's field. King is one of several titles occasionally used as given names. | Male | English |
| Diamond | In The Rough | Female | |
| Gypsy | Wanderer | Female | English |
| Kiki | From Enriqueta - Pet | Female | |
| Ivory | The hard, smooth, yellowish-white of an elephant's tusk. | Male | Word |
| Cleo | From Cleopatra - Her father's glory | Female | Greek |
| Allison | noble | Female | Scottish |
| Raven | Dark haired or wise | Female | Word |
| Smokey | A grayish blue colour. Slang for highway patrol officer | Male | |
| Spooky | Eerie, scary | Unisex | English |
| Miki | beautiful tree | Female | Japanese |
| Panther | A black leopard | Male | |
| Elvis | Elf-wise friend. Variant of Alvin. Made famous by singer and actor Elvis Pres... | Male | Meaning |
| Persephone | The daughter of Demeter and Zeus who was abducted by Hades but rescued by her... | Female | Greek |
| Velvet | Soft | Female | English |
| Coco | A pet name. | Female | Spanish |
| Oreo | American cookie brand consisting of two chocolate wafers with white cream fil... | Male | |
| Pepper | A spice or condiment. | Male | Sanskrit |
| Coco | A pet name. | Female | Spanish |
| Snickers | A brand of candy bar. | Unisex | |
| Gatsby | The Great Gatsby character | Male | |
| Mystique | Air of mystery. | Female |
Showing 30 of 145 matching names.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Colorpoint Shorthair be solid black?
No — the breed is defined by pointed coloration, where the body is lighter than the face, ears, legs, and tail. The pattern comes from a temperature-sensitive enzyme that only produces full pigment at cooler body extremities. A 'black' Colorpoint Shorthair almost always describes a seal-point cat, whose dark points read near-black against a pale-fawn body. A truly solid black cat with this body type would be classified as an Oriental Shorthair, not a Colorpoint.
How do seal-point Colorpoints differ from seal-point Siamese?
Genetically and structurally, they are identical — same wedge head, sapphire blue eyes, fine close-lying coat, and the same temperature-sensitive pointing. The difference is registry classification. CFA accepts seal-point cats as Siamese (one of the four traditional Siamese points) but recognises red, cream, lynx, and tortie points as Colorpoint Shorthair. So a seal-point cat with red-point or lynx-point siblings in the same pedigree is often registered as Colorpoint Shorthair with CFA on heritage grounds.
What names suit a near-black-pointed Colorpoint Shorthair?
The points-versus-body contrast is the cat's defining visual feature, so naming with that in mind works better than treating the cat as monochrome. Onyx, Inkwell, Soot, or Pitch fit the dark points; Cream, Fawn, or Sand catch the body. For a paired wink, Yin works (the body) or Yang (the points). Mali (Thai for jasmine) honours the Siamese half-lineage without leaning on Siam itself. Avoid names that ignore the pointed pattern — calling a seal-point Colorpoint 'Coal' flattens what the coat actually does.
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All Breed × Color Combinations
Browse the full breed × color cross hub — 86 curated combinations across 23 breeds and 14 coat colors.